Book Summary The Goal Processes and Operations

The Goal Processes and Operations Key Idea The main message of the book is that the proper way to manage any operation, whether it’s a manufacturing plant or a web design shop or a clothing store, is to: 1) Identify what needs to be changed. 2) Identify what it should be changed to. 3) Identify how to execute the change. Summary This story is based around the life of Alex Rogo, Plant Manager for Uniware, which is a division of Unico. After some very upsetting customer approaches Alex’s boss, Bill Peach, is given a challenge to turn the plant around in three months. Due to the limited amount of time available, there are not many outside tools available such as consultants, surveys, and so on. With very few hopes, Alex foresees the inevitable until he remembers his conversation with Jonah, a physicist who Alex knew from a previous job. It is not until Alex’s job is in at risk that he decides to devour into his conversation with Jonah. During the conversation, Jonah asks him several questions to analyze his company’s situation. The conversation leads ultimately to the question, What is the goal of any business? After rethinking his conversation, Alex realizes that the goal of any business is to make money. Furthermore, if the goal is to make money any action toward this goal is considered productive and any action not moving towards the goal is nonproductive. Alex was unsure of such a simple answer and decided to contact Jonah to continue the search for more answers. Once Alex contacts Jonah they define the following measurements to define the success of any plant’s production: 1) Throughout = rate that the system is used to generate money through sales. This measurement would consist of what a product would be worth when sold at market value after deducting operational expense and inventory. 2) Inventory = all the money invested in purchasing items that will be sold. This could include the remains of their machines after being used toward the investment. 3) Operational expense = all the money used to turn inventory into output. This would include such items as depreciation of a machine, lubricating oil, scraps, etc. Jonah explains to Alex that a plant that is continuously productive is considered inefficient. He further explains that continuous production will result in high absenteeism, poor quality and employee turnover. Based on this, he would need to reduce operational expense and inventory to improve throughput to demonstrate a balanced line of production. Jonah leaves him to think about the understanding of two things: what are the dependent events and statistical fluctuations in his plant. During a hiking trip with Alex’s son, he produces a game for a few of the kids to demonstrate an ideal balance line of production. He does this by setting up dependents and uses a die to measure the statistical fluctuations. At the end of the game, he concluded that the bottleneck’s speed of production is what determines the speed of the other dependents. Therefore, inventory moves very slowly because of statistical fluctuations. In the end, this is where Alex began his search inside the plant. After arriving back at work, he and the crew began their search for the bottlenecks. They identify one of the robots, NCX-10, and the heat treatment area as the source of the bottlenecks. Once identified, they began their search for solving them. After following some simple steps they significantly increased production by 12% during the first two months and 20% in the third month. Based on these increases, Alex saves the plant and his got promoted to Bill Peach’s position. Besides the ongoing theme of saving the plant, there is an underlying story about Alex’s personal life. In the beginning Alex’s wife, Julie, and him are constantly arguing about Alex working late in attempts of saving the plant which flows over into not spending any time with his family. Within the first 100 pages of the book, his wife leaves him, after being exhausted of all attempts to save their marriage. However, during his search for reclaiming the plant he does the same with his marriage. I think that the author is telling the audience that there must be a balance between these two lives. It is important for both to be in harmony because eventually they will flow in and out of each environment. Lessons Learned What I enjoyed the most about this book was the layout. It consisted of telling a story about Alex in a novel form, which included dialog, plot, etc. By making the book in this way it broke the specifics down for a layperson, Alex. After all, Alex represents the average person job going down the tube and marriage shortly following it. The source of the problem the whole time was following the rules that were and are continuously engraved into us each day. What I learned about this book is that you should not let your business and processes control you and lead you. Instead, you should be constantly criticizing and reviewing your processes and not settling for any bottlenecks or sticking points. Another major theme in the novel is that the point of a business is to make money, and more specifically, to make a profit. The way to do this is not to create as much as possible, but instead to run as efficiently as possible. That might require making drastic changes to common practices, things that on paper seem like they will hurt the bottom line. For example, in the book, they discover they’re running their manufacturing plant at 80% capacity. That means 20% of the time, they have machines and people just sitting there doing nothing. So they tell their sales manager to get them 20% more work. He says that they can only get it from a client who wants it at below cost, so they would lose money. But Alex convinces him that they only have materials as costs, as they have people doing nothing currently who are getting paid, so their time is not an additional expense. I thought this was very interesting. Application This book would be ideal for anyone interested in simplifying ways to improving any process whether it is manufacturing or service oriented. These back to basics principles, help break down what has become common practice.

Legal Counsel Exercise Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Legal Counsel Exercise - Assignment Example This he can do whether or not the organization, person or state can be linked to any specific terrorist incidents. He will justify his actions by arguing that, being the Commander-in-chief of the U.S armed force, the constitutions vets him with the authority to use military force in response to emergencies caused by unforeseen, sudden terrorist attacks on citizens, properties or the U.S territory. In certain circumstances, the U.S government transfers foreign detainees suspected of terrorism acts to foreign states where they believe international legal or foreign safeguards do not apply for detention, questioning and interrogation. If your soldiers are detained, they might be transferred to U.S detention facilities are outside the American sovereign authority. They will be interrogated using methods and tactics that are not acceptable according to both international and federal standards. This process I usually referred to as extraordinary rendition. Does the U.S public policy allow for such a practice? No! It does not, but it is still practiced in certain circumstances. Extraordinary rendition or rendition is deemed to be illegal. This is a view shared by the U.S President, Congress, Justice Department and the United Nations. If your soldiers are taken to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, even if they are non-U.S citizens, the Supreme Court in 2004 ruled that, they have the right to challenge the U.S. government in regards to the state of their detention. This can be done within the U.S federal court system. Military tribunals or commissions are a form of military courts that are meant to try enemy forces during war times. They operate outside the scope of normal civil and criminal courts. Their judges are usually military officials who perform the roles of the jurors and are very different from court Martials. The United States have used military tribunal in the past during the reign of President Abraham Lincoln and Roosevelt. In 2001, President Bush tried to form milita ry tribunal to try army detainees from Afghanistan. His attempt was met with very stiff opposition. The Supreme Court declared that they did not conform to the standards of the Geneva Convention. Currently, the U.S government is not using military tribunals. The U.S government has for a longtime been spying on its citizens. ‘Operation Chaos’ established in 1967 is a perfect evidence of the U.S spying on its citizen. This operation was established to spy on American citizens who objected the Vietnam War. Agencies involved in spying activities include the CIA, NSA and the Pentagon. It is not only unlawful for the military to participate in domestic spying activities, but the whole activity by government agencies such as the NSA spying on the U.S citizens is unlawful. It is not lawful for you to attack the United States first even if you believe they are going to attack you. You must have viable reasons to warrant lawful attacks against the U.S. If you decide to proceed an d attack them on the basis of your belief that they are going to attack you, your actions will be deemed to be acts of terrorism. Therefore, I would advise that you reconsider and clearly revaluate your reasons for wanting to attack the U.S. The United States has a constitution. This is the supreme law of the United States of America and all persons are accountable under it. All the other laws are derived from the Constitution. Whenever

Relationship of Staff Perception of the Importance of Physical Dissertation

Relationship of Staff Perception of the Importance of Physical Education and their Physical Well-Being to their Academic Perform - Dissertation Example Moreover, the importance of movement and physical activity among children and youth can not be discounted. Likewise, evidence from research during the 1990s has uncovered that â€Å"regular physical activity can make significant positive contribution to physical, mental and emotional well-being of children† (Bailey, 2001:2). 1.1. Aims It should not, therefore, come as a surprise that in many studies, physical education is regarded as among the most important areas in the curriculum by teachers and students alike (Bailey, 2001). In this regard, this study is being proposed to evaluate the importance of physical education and physical well-being among staff and how their perceptions of such importance influence their academic achievement in English and Mathematics subjects. Bailey (2001) argued that physical education (P.E) teachers are in a good position to encourage and motivate students to learn, and that the P.E teachers are highly responsible not to drive students away from physical education and physical activity, since the latter can happen if the P.E teachers are amiss in their roles. 1.2. ... This serves as the primary justification for the conduct of the proposed study. 1.3. Statement of the Research Problems The following problems will be addressed in this study: 1.3.1. What is the profile of the secondary students in the research locale in terms of gender, age, year level, and grades in English and Mathematics? 1.3.2. What is the perception of the staff of the importance of physical education in their life in general; and in their life as students? 1.3.3. What is the perception of the staff on the importance of physical well-being in their life in general; and in their life as students? 1.3.4. What is the relationship between the staff of the importance of physical education and their academic performance of their students in English and Mathematics? 1.3.5. What is the relationship between the staff’s perception of the importance of physical well-being and the academic performance of their students in English and Mathematics? 1.3.6. Are there significant differe nces in the staffs’ perception of the importance of Physical Education and their physical well-being when they are grouped in terms of gender, age, year level, and grades in English and Mathematics? 1.3.7. What strategies may be integrated in the Physical Education classes to ensure that students are appropriately motivated to learn in school? 1.4. Statement of Hypotheses Grounded on the research problems presented, the following hypotheses, stated in the null form, will be tested using non-directional or two-tailed analysis and 0.05 level of significance (?=0.05) 1.4.1. There is no significant relationship between the staffs’ perception of the importance of physical education and the academic performance of their learners in English. 1.4.2. There is no significant